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QUEENSLAND Rail has argued that there is little it can do to decrease the duration of local commuters' train journey to Brisbane, short of cancelling stopovers at Sunshine Coast stations.

A QR spokesman said most morning trains stopped at all Sunshine Coast stations before running "express" from Caboolture to Brisbane - stopping at only a handful of stations.

"Any changes to the length of services, the stations trains stop at, or the express parts of their journey, can have a positive or negative impact for different groups of customers," the spokesman said.

He noted that reducing the scheduled stops of the 6.57am service from Nambour, for example, would have negligible impact on travel times, yet would disadvantage a significant number of commuters.

"If it were not to stop at Caboolture and Bowen Hills, there would be a saving of approximately one minute," the spokesman explained.

"Ninety-nine current customers board at those stations and 57 alight.

"If the same train were not to stop at any stations on the Sunshine Coast - other than Nambour - there would be an extra saving of approximately 12 minutes.

"(However) 202 customers who currently board at these Sunshine Coast stations ... would not be able to get on, leaving about 50 on the train."

The explanation comes as Sunshine Coast commuters this week expressed significant concerns about less-than-adequate commuter services to Brisbane, which include frequent delays, overcrowding, and lack of toilet facilities.

Four local politicians accepted an invitation by The Daily this week to experience the trip for themselves and speak with commuters about the concerns.

The four included Queensland Environment Minister, Member for Glass House Andrew Powell, Federal candidates for Fairfax Ted O'Brien, of the LNP, and Jim McDonald, of The Greens, and Federal LNP candidate for Fisher Mal Brough.

Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Scott Emerson, confirmed yesterday that Mr Powell had spoken to him about local infrastructure and commuter concerns.

"The financial debt left to us by the former Labor government means we have not yet been able to commit to duplicating the Sunshine Coast line," Mr Emerson said.